‘India can have bigger say with ICANN managing internet’

US-based control and oversight to a more inclusive “multi stakeholder” model could be an opportunity for India to have a greater say in how the Internet is governed.Neha Alawadhi | ET Bureau | October 04, 2016, 09:34 IST

NEW DELHI: In a historic move , unknown to a vast majority of Internet users, the United States government has given up the oversight of how the Internet works and functions, leaving its management to the non-profit called the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

While the change will have no effect on the way users experience the Internet, the move from a US-based control and oversight to a more inclusive “multi stakeholder” model could be an opportunity for India to have a greater say in how the Internet is governed, several people ET spoke to said.

“To that extent, that makes ICANN free from the legal contract. What that means is that given that we (India) are now playing a significant role in the internet space of the world, it gives us an opportunity to actively engage with ICANN,” he added.

ICANN, which is often called the phone book of the internet, matches domain names with appropriate IP address numbers. The fact that ICANN operated under a US Department of Commerce licence has been a source of resentment in India and China, which account for bulk of internet traffic and IP addresses. On Saturday, US government finally ceded control of ICANN, which will now operate in a multi stakeholder model, which India also agreed to support last year.

“There should be more representation in the ICANN board from India and China and others with large populations. While everyone talks of the next billion Internet users coming online from this side of the world, we also need to make sure they are adequately represented on the board of ICANN,” said Kamlesh Bajaj, mentor professor, NIIT University, Neemrana.

The issue of lack of Indian representation on the ICANN board was also discussed at length at the last ICANN meeting held in Helsinki, ET has learnt. However, the process of getting on the Board takes its own course. “To have Indians at a higher level, you first need to have, and rapidly engage at all levels. That is something all stakeholder groups are working at…and have more consistent engagement,” said Aarti Bhavana, research fellow at Centre for Communication Governance (CCG) at National Law University, Delhi.